Each year, the Grenoble Crous amateur big band invites an artist to revisit their repertoire. For 2022, it is the Brazilian artist based in Lyon João Selva who has lent himself to the game. After a first concert a few days ago in Saint-Martin-d’Hères, they will be on stage on July 2 in the part of the Jazz à Vienne festival.
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He is one of the best ambassadors of Brazilian music in France. A Carioca who settled in Lyon several years ago. João Selva, who released his second album last year, navegar (Underdog Records), has agreed to be this year the guest artist of the SGO, the Student Groove Orchestra, a Grenoble big band of student amateur musicians. In a few weeks of residence, they created a show together, revisiting the singer’s repertoire, but not only.
The idea was to make them discover a bit of Brazilian music, from traditional music to more erudite forms as well. And it’s a real pleasure for me to make them travel a little bit in this repertoire and to make them discover great Brazilian composers, in addition to interpreting my works.
Born on the initiative of the cultural service of the Crous Grenoble Alpes, the Student Groove Orchestra is made up of students and young promising musicians. The challenge of these meetings with professional artists: to adapt to their universe. Like here with the tropical and Creole pop of João Selva, which mixes funk, jazz, disco and Brazilian music. An enriching experience for members of the student big band. “It’s good to see the disparity in level within the orchestra itself, because in the end, whether we’re pro or not, it makes us all progress, it makes us all grow“, says Emma. “It’s true that being totally immersed, being on set with sound engineers who give us great sound, it allows us to be really comfortable on stage, to hear each other and to be able to playing together is fun“, adds Matteo.
“We defend the big groups, the brass and the strings… The artists work more and more with very small groups, and suddenly, our contribution is to show a much more generous dimension of the music.“, smiles the musical director of the SGO Vincent Stephan. After a first concert a few days ago near Grenoble, João Selva and the Student Groove Orchestra will perform as part of the free concerts of Jazz in Vienna, next July 2 at 7 p.m. on the scene of Cybèle’s garden.